Disclaimer for “Joseph,” current graphic novel project (Chinamarker, turmeric, white acrylic ink on newsprint) My target date for completing the drawing process is June 2024. I am delighted to share that I will be publishing my completed graphic novel with Conundrum Press in 2025. Huge thank you to Patti Henderson for allowing me to use…
A mock up to “see the book”
JOSEPH is my experimental graphic novel (in process). It is a Vancouver-based family saga spanning 1924 – 1963. For more info, go to: ABOUT Transforming my 280 page research manuscript (just words) into a 200 page graphic novel (mainly visuals) is a brain exercise, to say the least. I am currently writing the script…
Journal entry… “Fell into…”
June 21, 2023 6:30 PM Fell into a post-work nap (that desperate 15 min kind), then did a lagoon lap, listening to Górecki – Symphony No. 3 Final Movement twice as I visualized the choreography I have been working on. When I got home, I got a strange feeling – standing on the precipice, moving into something…
Sometimes, if I angle things just right…
Sometimes, if I angle things just right… at just the right time, I can pretend I am the only human in the park. The bird songs and gentle breeze in the trees can then seem louder than the seaplanes and distant traffic… And racing thoughts and complicated to-do lists fall away… Perhaps now and then…
Using labanotation as constraints to create a 9-panel page
I created a 9-panel page for my “Joseph” project based on a rudimentary intro to labanotation and based on a famous photo from a 1946 reportage, “a man constrained in a straight jacket stands alone.” Labanotation is a system of recording human movement, originated by the Hungarian-born dance theorist Rudolf Laban. The Laban system…
A contemplation
This past week, I had the pleasure of doing graphic recording for a group within health care as they reflected on Trauma and Resiliency Informed Practice. After I completed the transcription report, I decided to do my own a reflection. The result is a drawing as I contemplated the outcomes of the day. The drawing process: Lotus buds…
When a Story Finds You
I presented at Vancouver Heritage Foundation Heritage Lunch and Learn on March 9, 2023! When A Story Finds You – The Babes in the Wood Cold Case and Unexpected Discoveries In 2003, Katarina Thorsen volunteered as a researcher and student criminal profiler with the Babes in the Woods Task Force. The task force’s goal was…
Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Places that Matter Community Celebrations Feb 22, 2023!
What a wonderful event! So many extraordinary displays and a massive sold out crowd! It was fantastic to be in a room with people so passionate about Vancouver history. THANK YOU to all the folks at VHF for making this happen. Huge thank you to Patti Henderson for helping me with this event and lending her…
Store window, Gamla Stan, Stockholm. A study
I came across a wonderful little shop in June 2019. Slow Fox Förlag Antikvariatet. Själagårdsgatan 9c, Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden. And I think about the store window ALOT. A study using Chinamarker, white acrylic ink, watercolour wash added using Caitlin ffrench’s wildcrafted pigments © KATARINA THORSEN
Decompose on forest floor study (embroidered drawing)
January 31, 2023 Our bodies are garbage heaps: we collect experience, and from the decomposition of the thrown-out eggshells, spinach leaves, coffee grinds, and old steak bones out of our minds come nitrogen, heat, and very fertile soil. Out of this fertile soil bloom our poems and stories. But this does not come all at…
“The Guardians.” A study
For Emma.
Crow study.
For Julian.
Follow the process: École Rochester Mission Statement Canvas
I will continue to post rest of process until done… Target completion date: January 6, 2023 Jan 6, 2023 Almost done! The grey rocks will have key “touchstone” words added and the field awaits the Mission Statement. (Excuse the photo quality. The colours at the bottom are brighter in real life) Update March…
Construct, deconstruct, reconstruct.
See original post of creating this painting: Of the Forest Deconstruction started Nov 4, 2022: Mixed them all up, collected them and laid in order of how they stacked. December 8, 2022: The accidental connections between between the randomly selected canvas pieces is satisfying. My eye naturally finds harmony in the accidents. I rediscovered the love…
My grandfather’s school photo- it haunts and taunts me…
I am obsessed with this photo of my grandfather’s school class (Hudiksvall, Sweden). He is in the top row, far left. I have drawn and painted it over and over for years. But something never allows me to finish. I get to a certain point with some of the students and then the rest refuse…
Painting in progress: Of The Forest, Värmland (self-portrait)
My niece, Vivienne, age 8, works on the piece with me. Bliss! The piece continues to evolve… With no attachment to outcome. Only to the process, which I find enormously healing. This is the forest in Värmland in which my soul most often resides… where I spent my childhood summers:
I lie face up. Journal entry.
I walk east along the seawall. I look down at the ocean water. It laps gently against the rock wall. It is a hot day. I think about how long it has been since I went swimming. In the ocean, in a lake, in a pool. I imagine myself undressing, walking down the stone steps…
Cashel, Ireland “vision board”
The main characters in my graphic novel project (a true story) were born in Cashel, Ireland. I decided to make a “vision board” to help me focus on gathering the resources to one day (soon) sit in situ drawing the Rock of Cashel. (Then head down the hill for a pint and food.) I found…
Journal entry July 3, 2022
I believe (I already have to some extent) that I must make friends with death. And to to know to accept that I will dance once again in the that chasm before my conception and after my death. Forever. Timelessly. To the music of the Sparrow’s Song – Journal entry, July 3, 2022
Entangled roots as metaphor for two mission statements
Gradually, the observer realizes that these organisms are connected to each other, not linearly, but in a netlike, entangled fabric. – Alexander Von Humboldt Related: “Potential” I call it “Potential” to celebrate Diane and Doug’s work and legacy of fostering the potential in others. See:
Painting: Potential, 2022
Interactive Visual for Diane and Doug Clement event (Ink, acrylic, wax on canvas). Guests at the scholarship fund celebration (see below) added their names in the nest and leaves. I call it “Potential” to celebrate Diane and Doug’s work and legacy of fostering the potential in others.
Joseph, the Prologue Broadsheet Sampler
© Katarina Thorsen 2022 — This is a limited edition publication. 400 copies in total have been printed. The hardcopy of the 12-page broadsheet (newspaper) measures: 380 mm x 578 mm (approx. 15″ x 28″) FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: ABOUT THE PROJECT To purchase an individually signed and numbered copy of the 12-page…
Bunny studies, Jericho Beach. April 29, 2022
They are so sweet and so lovely to study. Lovely to observe and sketch but, sadly, there are SO MANY. Please don’t touch. Don’t feed. Don’t release. From City of Vancouver Website: Wildlife feeding is prohibited at all Vancouver parks and beaches. Doing so can land you a fine of up to $500. Incidents of wildlife…
Painting: Of the invisible breath that swayed at once
Of the invisible breath that swayed at once… – William Cullen Bryant — This canvas is part of a larger explorative project entitled “Nature Nurture” conceived by filmmaker and multi-media artist Patti Henderson, “born of Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn. The first pandemic lockdown in British Columbia.” The project includes introspective photography and writing by…
Journal entry April 3, 2022
Drawings for the prologue finished! Dropping them off at TR Trades tomorrow. Anxious trepidation. Anticipating: Who are you to tell their story? A familiar dark ink inches towards my feet. Not trusting that I will be seen as legit. Then reminding myself- who cares!? It is liberating to not be participating in any upcoming festivals. Liberating to not have…
Yard Gone Wild #fanart #doodles
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Being steered… this way? No, that way. Ok. Got it.
A powerful time of invites, yes’s and important no’s that steer me in the direction I know I need to go. Got a bit overwhelmed from the relief and excitement, I had to soak, think and do a therapeutic bathtub doodle to get perspective. “I heard this really great quote not too long ago that…